John Stuart Mill — "It is not the business of the law to make people good, but to prevent them from …"

"The grand, leading principle, towards which every argument unfolded in these pages directly converges, is the absolute and essential importance of human development in its richest diversity."

"The object of this Essay is to assert one very simple principle, as entitled to govern absolutely the dealings of society with the individual in the way of compulsion and control, whether the means us…"

"The general tendency of things throughout the world is to render mediocrity the ascendant power among mankind."

"To be prevented from doing what one is inclined to do, is bondage."

"That the only freedom which deserves the name, is that of pursuing our own good in our own way, so long as we do not attempt to deprive others of theirs, or impede their efforts to obtain it."